When Ronnie came to see us at Optical Express, his vision had deteriorated so drastically as a result of dense cataracts that even something as simple as walking proved to be a struggle. No longer able to do the things he enjoyed, such as playing golf and watching television, his poor vision was starting to have a major impact on his quality of life.

When his family realised that this had left him feeling anxious and depressed, they decided it was time to take action and booked in for a consultation with the hope of restoring his vision.

His wife, Shirley, comments: “He’s had no quality of life for 12 months, it’s gone constantly worse and worse and worse. I think he was getting depressed, it was depression. He wasn’t happy, he was miserable.” Attending a consultation at our Bridgewater Eye Hospital, Optometrist Salma quickly identified that Ronnie had severe cataracts developing in both eyes. As waiting times for treatment through the NHS had increased considerably due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a possible wait of between 12-18 months, his family decided they did not want to risk irreversible damage to Ronnie’s sight and booked in for private treatment at Optical Express instead.

“If he had waited another 12/18 months for the NHS to be able to extract them, he could have had irreversible changes to his sight or lost part of his sight,” Salma says. At Optical Express, Ronnie was able to get an appointment for cataract treatment just 2 weeks after his initial consultation. Dr Aasheet Desai, who conducted the surgery, distinctly remembers the case: “He had an incredibly dense cataract. We couldn’t see to the back of the eye, we had to use special machines to get the measurements. It was a tough and challenging case as such.”

Coming out of treatment, Ronnie was ecstatic to find that his vision already appeared both clearer and brighter. “He just shouted out ‘Amazing, I can see!’, and that was really heartfelt, he was just over the moon. When he came out to the recovery room I saw him singing and he was happy and joyous and had a big smile on his face. It was one of the first times I actually tweeted, I don’t normally go on Twitter, but I said ‘this is a privilege’. This job is a privilege to make a difference to someone’s vision,” Dr Desai recalls.

As Ronnie and his family are over the moon with his restored vision and quality of life, they wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Optical Express to others suffering from poor vision as a result of cataracts. “It has been fantastic and it’s changed his life completely. He can now watch the telly, he can do anything. Even gardening at 92, it’s just been amazing what’s happened,” his wife Shirley says.

Clinic Manager Emma also fondly recalls Ronnie’s complete transformation, commenting: “The difference in him is phenomenal. He was able to walk up the stairs on his own, he didn’t need support from his son or his wife. His personality had changed, he was more chatty, he was singing and he was confident. It was quite an emotional journey with him, to see his personality develop and see the real Ronnie.”